Chief Programs Officer

Job Title: Chief Programs Officer

Employment Status: Full-time exempt (An average of 40 hours per week, but as an exempt employee this position will be expected to work as many hours as it takes to fulfill their job responsibilities)

Location: This is a remote position. We are a California-based organization, and this individual will be expected to work predominantly on a Pacific time zone schedule.

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Salary: $165,000 - $175,500

Eligibility for hire: Please note that due to our remote work arrangement, we are required to use E-verify's procedures for remote employees. If you have questions regarding employment eligibility, please reach out to jobs@culturalpower.org

Timeline Note: We will be accepting applications through the end of 2025, and will begin the hiring process in early 2026. Our office will be closed for Winter Break from 12/16/25 - 1/5/26.

Application Instructions: Applicants should submit a resume or CV and cover letter to jobs@culturalpower.org with "Chief Programs Officer" in the title.

About The Center for Cultural Power:

The Center for Cultural Power (Cultural Power) is a women of color, artist-led organization, inspiring artists and culture makers to imagine a world where power is distributed equitably and where we live in harmony with nature. We support artists through fellowships, training, and opportunities for activation. We create intersectional stories and content addressing issues of immigration, climate, gender and racial justice. We engage movement groups in cultural strategy and organize artists around issues that inspire them. Together with allies, we are co-creating a field of cultural strategy with organizations and practitioners through convenings, design teams, and strategy tables. Our website has more about the organization and our team.

Our staff and board align around the following organizational values:

• Trust
• Collaboration
• Care
• Learning
• Inspiration

We assess our progress and work around the following organizational core competencies:

• Cultural Competency
• Empowers Others
• Ethics
• Strategic Alignment and Partnerships
• Collaboration
• Project Management
• Leadership
• Accountability

Cultural Power is part of a family of organizations including The Cultural Engagement Lab. More on these organizations and initiatives are below. This position may be split between Cultural Power and CEL approximately 85/15.

About The Cultural Engagement Lab (CEL)

CEL is our 501(c)(4) organization that organizes a powerful network of seasoned artists and culture makers from impacted communities to lend their storytelling talents to meaningful advocacy, electoral, and civic engagement efforts. You can visit CEL’s website to learn more about this body of work.

Position Overview:

The Chief Program Officer leads, designs and develops programs and initiatives for the Center for Cultural Power. This role serves on Cultural Power’s C-suite & Leadership Team and oversees three primary programmatic strategies: Movement Building and Field Building, and our c4 organization, Cultural Engagement Lab.

This includes campaigns, artist activist development and training, narrative alignment, network building, movement partnerships, resourcing efforts, research, and convenings that support artist disruptors, culture bearers and the broader field in building cultural power and driving social change.

The Chief Program Officer (CPO) will build and supervise a team that may include: Senior Program Director and their direct reports, team operations and administration and program communications.

The CPO ensures best practices of managing teams, fidelity of implementation of portfolios – and thought partnership to shape new and emergent opportunities.

The Chief Program Officer will oversee CCP’s Movement Building and Field Building strategies, driving initiatives that empower artists to actively participate in social movements, build artist's long-term artistic and organizing skills and mindsets, support movements in advancing narrative strategy via mutually beneficial relationships with artists, and develop cutting edge programs to build the power of artists. This role designs the overall strategy for artists disruptors and culture bearers to move holistically through the organization’s diverse portfolio of offerings, with an eye to impact, values, creativity and culture change.

The CPO will oversee the creation of programs, pedagogy, and tools that build the organizing power of artists and help them be highly effective in their own artistic practice. They will identify strategic opportunities to advance their diverse portfolio, which ranges from training artists, fellowships, resourcing artists, on the ground campaigns, in person cultural events, campaign activations, and learning in service to advancing our Theory of Change. This position will be responsible for interfacing with funders, movement leaders, advocacy organizations and artists.

The CPO will regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment in performing the following key areas of expertise and mastery:

• Cultural Competency:
  • They champion diversity and inclusion initiatives, ensuring that they are embedded in the organization's strategic goals and decision-making processes.
• Empowers Others
  • They set the tone for the entire company by promoting a leadership style that emphasizes trust, collaboration, and employee development.
• Ethics
  • They drive ethical conduct throughout the organization by creating and reinforcing ethical policies, procedures, and controls.
• Strategic Alignment and Partnerships
  • They establish partnerships and alliances at the highest level, such as with key creative community members, philanthropic entities, or other organizations to drive growth and expand the Center for Cultural Power's reach.
• Collaboration
  • They establish partnerships and alliances that leverage complementary strengths and resources, driving innovation and growth.
• Project Management
  • They ensure that projects are aligned with the Center for Cultural Power's vision and goals, and they make informed decisions regarding project investments and prioritization.
• Leadership
  • They demonstrate visionary thinking, navigate complex business environments, and lead the company through challenges and opportunities.
• Accountability
  • They establish clear organizational goals, define performance expectations, and ensure that the company operates with integrity and transparency.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Strategy & Development

• Lead Program Design & Strategy: Design, develop, and oversee programs that advance the CCP’s strategy and influence within the cultural and political sector.
• Build Coalition: Cultivate partnerships and collaboration across a diverse spectrum of stakeholders, including artists, cultural organizations, and political groups unified by a shared commitment to building cultural power and driving social change.
• Support Artists’ Power Building and Development: Oversee the development and refinement of fellowship programs and power-building tools and training that empower artists, culture bearers, and cultural workers to disrupt the cultural sector and strengthen their roles as creative entrepreneurs.
• Develop Artist-Organizers / Artist-Activists: Empower artists, disruptors, and culture bearers impacted by unjust systems to leverage their skills for activism and systemic change, whether in the cultural or political sectors.
• Establish Lasting Partnerships: Forge mutually beneficial partnerships to achieve impact, visibility and campaign victories.
• Oversee the wind down phase of Constellations, ensuring that the learnings from the five year initiative are shared broadly across the field.
• Drive Portfolio Impact: Oversee a diverse portfolio that includes campaigns, training, movement narrative alignment, coalition building and strategy, ensuring alignment with the Center’s theory of change and strategic priorities.
• Develop Scalable Structures: Refine and enhance field-building structures that can be scaled nationally, supporting the future growth of the Center for Cultural Power.
• Oversee Pedagogy Development: Oversee the development and refinement of tools and training that empower artists, culture bearers, and cultural workers to disrupt systems of oppression, make a cultural impact, and build the public will for policy wins.
• Lead Innovation & Differentiation: In collaboration with board members, field experts, and the C-suite, consult on the development of research tools and initiatives that differentiate the Center for Cultural Power as a pioneer in the cultural strategy space.
• Strategic Planning for the Organization: Think and plan strategically 3-5 years into the future in partnership with C-Suite members with input from Directors, identifying funding opportunities and shaping them for impact.
• Provide strategic direction to support the organization’s growth, contraction and innovation through taking calculated risks and learning from innovations.
• Partner with the CEO on the organization's fiscal health and build a one organization culture for fundraising and budgeting.

Internal Partnerships

• Cultivate relationships and establish partnerships between different program areas, encouraging knowledge sharing, resource utilization, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Directly supervise Senior Director of Programs as they supervise program directors to build their supervisory and managerial leadership skills to engage, encourage, empower, and motivate program staff.
• Provide strategic guidance and coaching to program directors and managers in planning, program management and implementation for increased effectiveness and accountability.
• Oversee the full life cycle of grants & contract processes, administration, reporting and compliance.
• Lead effort in establishing staff goals and objectives and measure results against programs impact, effectiveness, and other predetermined accountability parameters.
• Provide leadership, and support to program teams to enhance their ability to collaborate effectively and leverage internal partnerships.
• Determine staffing requirements to achieve program goals and objectives and participate in hiring decisions for new program staff.
• Partner with the Director of People & Culture to identify and create leadership and professional development opportunities for program directors and program staff.
• Ensure that working norms and protocols are followed to foster a team environment of collaboration, care, learning, trust, and inspiration.
• Develop benchmarks for success and oversee directors managing teams to implement goals and projects with an eye towards quality and innovation, ensuring alignment with organizational goals
• Oversee directors in creating and tracking department budgets, track expenses, respond to changes and make sure spending is controlled, while meeting department benchmarks and deliverables.

External Partnerships

• Serve as an ambassador, speaker and thought leader in the field of cultural strategy, representing and expanding the sphere of influence of the Center for Cultural Power and CEL through presentations, publications and initiatives
• Develop and foster productive relationships with allied organizations, as capacity allows.
• Coordinate with the CEO and the Chief Advancement Officer on developing and seeking resources for new program ideas and pilot projects, including integrating successful pilots into the program department.
• Serve as a relationship liaison with key funders, including foundations and government agencies in partnership with the Chief Advancement Officer.
• Build and nurture strategic partnerships to leverage resources, expertise, and networks for programmatic success.

Leadership & Culture

• Champion diversity and inclusion initiatives, ensuring that they are embedded in the organization's strategic goals and decision-making processes. Actively build diverse teams and create opportunities for employees from all cultural backgrounds to succeed and contribute to the organization's success.
• Provide inspirational leadership and direction, and ensure the continued development and management of a professional and efficient organization; establish effective decision-making processes that will enable long- and short-term goals and objectives to be achieved.
• Facilitate cross-departmental collaboration and impact and strengthen internal communications with staff throughout the organization; create and promote a positive, multicultural work environment that supports consistency throughout the organization's strategy, operational methods, and data collection needs.
• Identify, attract, recruit, develop, and retain leading talent.
• Create a culture of empowerment and enable the success of all employees within the organization by promoting a leadership style that emphasizes trust, collaboration, and employee development.
• Promote a sense of ownership and accountability throughout the organization, ensuring that staff have the authority and support they need to make informed decisions.

Qualifications:

The candidate must have:

• 10+ years in program management and implementation with organizations that serve diverse communities.
• 5+ years managing teams, with a track record of creating collaborative, high performing, cross-functional teams
• 2+ years collaborating to design and implement narrative and cultural strategy programs, with demonstrable experience implementing and aligning work around narrative vision and narrative strategy.
• Experience networking leaders and/or leading artist cohorts strongly preferred
• Experience working with narrative consultants, researchers in order to design and implement evaluation and impact strategies
• Strong project management skills and ability to maintain high-level focus, delegating tasks while keeping momentum on projects.
• Exceptional written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills
• Cultural fluency and direct experience working with diverse communities.

Compensation & Benefits

This position is full-time with a salary range starting at $165,000 - $175,500/yr, determined by experience and qualifications. We offer a generous benefits package including full medical, dental, vision (100% company paid for employee & 70% contribution towards dependent premiums), life, long-term disability, flex spending accounts, $50 monthly stipend to support cell phone/wifi expenses, and a 401k plan with 3% employer contribution (regardless of employee contribution); generous vacation, office closures, sick leave, bereavement leave, Covid leave, sabbatical policy, and paid holidays. We also offer ample flexibility as a permanently remote workplace.

Cultural Power supports artists and culture makers whose voices are most needed to transform the status quo towards a more just and inclusive future. This includes all artists and cultural workers whatever their individual designations, cultural backgrounds, sexual or gender identity, citizenship status, or color. As such, we strongly encourage individuals from all communities to apply. We are committed to the collective work and intentional investment necessary to consistently move in the direction of equity and inclusion. Cultural Power is an at-will employer.

This position is full-time with a salary range starting at $165,000 - $175,500/yr, determined by experience and qualifications. We offer a generous benefits package including full medical, dental, vision (100% company paid for employee & 70% contribution towards dependent premiums), life, long-term disability, flex spending accounts, $50 monthly stipend to support cell phone/wifi expenses, and a 401k plan with 3% employer contribution (regardless of employee contribution); generous vacation, office closures, sick leave, bereavement leave, Covid leave, sabbatical policy, and paid holidays. We also offer ample flexibility as a permanently remote workplace.

Fluent in English - writing, reading, speaking